Competitividade sexual pré-zigótica em Mosca-das-frutas Anastrepha Fraterculus (Wiedmann, 1830) (Diptera: Tephritidae).

A mosca-das-frutas Anastrepha fraterculus é a principal praga da maçã e a técnica do inseto estéril seria uma alternativa para seu controle. O presente trabalho avaliou a competitividade sexual pré-zigótica entre três populações de A. fraterculus: selvagens, de laboratório e laboratório esterilizadas. O estudo foi conduzido em gaiolas teladas na Estação Experimental de Fruticultura de Clima Temperado (EEFCT), Vacaria, RS. A população selvagem foi obtida dos frutos de Feijoa sellowiana e as de laboratório obtidas da criação experimental do Laboratório de Entomologia da EEFTC, criadas artificialmente. O processo de esterilização foi realizado pelo Centro de Energia Nuclear na Agricultura, Piracicaba, SP, em pupas 24 horas antes da emergência, a uma taxa de 135,65 Gy/h. Logo após a emergência os adultos foram separados por sexo e alimentados de acordo com o sistema de criação. No dia anterior ao teste foram identificados com tinta. Os ensaios foram conduzidos às 8:00 da manhã liberando-se 30 machos de cada população e 30 minutos depois as respectivas fêmeas. Para população de laboratório foram usados adultos de 8 a 10 dias de idade e para selvagem de 15 a 18 dias. Para cada combinação foram realizadas oito repetições. Foram observados e capturados os casais formados registrando a cor e a duração das cópulas. Todas as observações foram realizadas do interior da gaiola durante 3 horas. Os casais foram separados em gaiolas de acordo com sua combinação para avaliação da viabilidade dos ovos. Os resultados foram analisados de acordo com o Índice de Isolamento Sexual (ISI) e os relativos à viabilidade de ovos foram comparados ao padrão da espécie. Os resultados indicaram que há compatibilidade sexual entre as populações, mas que o processo de radioesterilização afetou a competitividade sexual. Os ovos obtidos de cópulas envolvendo a população esterilizada geraram ovos inviáveis e as fêmeas estéreis não produziram ovos

The role of INTEGRIS in the A2A Reti Elettriche's roadmap toward the Smart Grid

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A consensus on the diagnosis and treatment of acromegaly complications

In March 2011, the Acromegaly Consensus Group met to revise and update the guidelines on the diagnosis and treatment of acromegaly complications. The meeting was sponsored by the Pituitary Society and the European Neuroendocrinology Association and included experts skilled in the management of acromegaly. Complications considered included cardiovascular, endocrine and metabolic, sleep apnea, bone diseases, and mortality. Outcomes in selected, related clinical conditions were also considered, and included pregnancy, familial acromegaly and invasive macroadenomas. The need for a new disease staging model was considered, and design of such a tool was proposed

Erectile dysfunction and angiographic extent of coronary artery disease in type II diabetic patients

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Meta-Analysis on the Effects of Octreotide on Tumor Mass in Acromegaly

<div><h3>Background</h3><p>The long-acting somatostatin analogue octreotide is used either as an adjuvant or primary therapy to lower growth hormone (GH) levels in patients with acromegaly and may also induce pituitary tumor shrinkage.</p> <h3>Objective</h3><p>We performed a meta-analysis to accurately assess the effect of octreotide on pituitary tumor shrinkage.</p> <h3>Data Sources</h3><p>A computerized Medline and Embase search was undertaken to identify potentially eligible studies.</p> <h3>Study Eligibility Criteria</h3><p>Eligibility criteria included treatment with octreotide, availability of numerical metrics on tumor shrinkage and clear definition of a clinically relevant reduction in tumor size. Primary endpoints included the proportion of patients with tumor shrinkage and mean percentage reduction in tumor volume.</p> <h3>Data Extraction and Analysis</h3><p>The electronic search identified 2202 articles. Of these, 41 studies fulfilling the eligibility criteria were selected for data extraction and analysis. In total, 1685 patients were included, ranging from 6 to 189 patients per trial. For the analysis of the effect of octreotide on pituitary tumor shrinkage a random effect model was used to account for differences in both effect size and sampling error.</p> <h3>Results</h3><p>Octreotide was shown to induce tumor shrinkage in 53.0% [95% CI: 45.0%–61.0%] of treated patients. In patients treated with the LAR formulation of octreotide, this increased to 66.0%, [95% CI: 57.0%–74.0%). In the nine studies in which tumor shrinkage was quantified, the overall weighted mean percentage reduction in tumor size was 37.4% [95% CI: 22.4%–52.4%], rising to 50.6% [95% CI: 42.7%–58.4%] with octreotide LAR.</p> <h3>Limitations</h3><p>Most trials examined were open-label and had no control group.</p> <h3>Conclusions</h3><p>Octreotide LAR induces clinically relevant tumor shrinkage in more than half of patients with acromegaly.</p> </div

Realistic loophole-free Bell test with atom-photon entanglement

The establishment of nonlocal correlations, obtained through the violation of a Bell inequality, is not only important from a fundamental point of view, but constitutes the basis for device-independent quantum information technologies. Although several nonlocality tests have been performed so far, all of them suffered from either the locality or the detection loopholes. Recent studies have suggested that the use of atom-photon entanglement can lead to Bell inequality violations with moderate transmission and detection efficiencies. In this paper we propose an experimental setup realizing a simple atom-photon entangled state that, under realistic experimental parameters available to date, achieves a significant violation of the Clauser-Horn-Shimony-Holt inequality. Most importantly, the violation remains when considering typical detection efficiencies and losses due to required propagation distances.Comment: 21 pages, 5 figures, 3 table, to appear in Nature Com

New medical therapies on the horizon: oral octreotide

Somatostatin analog treatment is first line medical treatment in patients with acromegaly. This drug is currently mainly administered by monthly depot preparations of octreotide and lanreotide. With the innovative transient permeability enhancer, a technology enabling the absorption of drug molecules via transient opening of the tight junctions of the gut epithelium, it is possible to achieve therapeutic octreotide levels after oral ingestion. The present review summarized the preclinical work and the recently reported phase I and III study on oral octreotide capsules in patients with acromegaly. Maintenance of control in 155 participating patients was achieved in 65% at the end of core period. Once controlled on oral octreotide, the response was maintained to the end of the extension phase in 85%. Side effects were comparable to currently available preparations. There was a profound suppression of growth hormone levels, and significant symptom reduction. Currently available parental somatostatin analogs are generally well tolerated and are able to achieve longstanding biochemical control in patients with somatostatin sensitive tumors. Potential advantages of an oral alternative is the lack injection-related side effects, but there will be an ongoing need for a very strict compliance with the 2 daily dose regimen and fasting around drug administrations. A second phase III study is currently being conducted. The potential place in the treatment of acromegaly is discussed